Living for Drama
by Lionandthelamb101
Summary: Bella: the dedicated actress. Edward: the jock in love. Placed together for a theater project, will a relationship form or will they forever be just friends? Of course, it helps that the people around them have a few tricks up their sleeves. Canon couples, AH & AU. R&R. Rated M for cursing and sexual implications
1. Molesting Mannequins and Nasty Sandwichs

All characters and places belong to Stephanie Meyer. I'm just trying to do this idea justice. Let me know what y'all think! Sorry for any errors, this was kinda rushed.

~Brookey-bear

"High school is just a bunch of teenagers forced to be together for eight hours. Everyone has different goals and plans for their future. Mine? I just want to make my own path in life."

-Edward Cullen, Captain of Spartans Basketball team

"Acting is my one true passion and I feel terribly sorry for anyone trying to come between my love and I. Who has time for boys when one has the spotlight?"

-Bella Swan, President of the Theatre Club, star actress

(LFD)

"By the end of the semester, I hope y'all will finally understand the difficulty in putting on a play from scratch. Each group will –Mr. Cullen!"

Startled by the shout, Edward knocked the mannequin that had been behind him over, hand still on the outline of a breast that he had been fondling, much to his friends' amusement. Jasper and Emmett roared with laughter as Edward attempted to set it back upright unsuccessfully. After it collapsed for the third time, he dropped his grip on it and faced the outraged Ms. Nichols. The elderly lady tapped her old green shoe against the ground as she glared at him with unmasked irritation.

He grinned. "Sorry. Darn thing has no sense of balance. Probably 'cause it has no feet." He glanced down at the poor footless woman that lay in a crumpled heap.

The teacher was not amused. "Mr. Cullen and posse," Jasper and Emmett straightened as they were called out. "Please understand that this is NOT an easy class and disruptions and immature behavior will not be tolerated during this year. I ask that you please refrain yourself from molesting the props from now on." Turning on her heel, Ms. Nichols approached the dirty dry erase board and began drawing a diagram of a stage.

Edward grinned at her turned back and shared a low high five with Jasper, who was still chuckling. When the sound of someone clicking their tongue was heard, he turned to see Bella Swan glaring at him. Properly chastened and blushing a bit, he rolled his eyes at her. Sometimes she took theatre a little too seriously.

Tapping her fingers against her desk, Bella faced the board, still annoyed at the lack of respect the jocks in the back showed her favorite teacher. Ms. Nichols was dedicated to acting and Bella loved the created ways she inspired her students to go the extra mile. This was Bella's third time to take her class and never got tired of learning about the art of acting. Since she was thirteen, she knew that acting was her passion and that she would one day grace the stages on Broadway. She could already see herself in the huge spotlight, her name as leading actress on the billboards…

Bella shook off her daydreams as Ms. Nichols began handing out papers. Taking a green sheet and passing the rest to Rosalie Hale, who sat behind her, she quickly scanned the introduction paragraph and nearly squealed with joy at the freedom the rules left. There were hardly any restrictions, except that it must be a romance play and no nudity could be in it.

"Now class, I know that you all have certain people that you would like to be in your groups, but I learned last year that we usually can only get one excellent play that way and I want to see all of you succeed." Ms. Nichols paused as groans filled the classroom. Everyone knew where this was going. "So I will post a list of the groups after school outside the room so you all can begin planning after school for how you are going to prepare and practice." She grinned brightly.

As the bell rang, Edward shoved the paper in the cluttered mess he called a backpack and hightailed it for the door. He couldn't take anymore of the dried paint smell that clung to the walls of room 315. Disbelieving what had just happened, he started towards lunch, fuming at the theatre teacher. Here it as the third day of school and they already had a project! With his luck, he'd end up with Jessica Stanley and the rest of the CCC's (Catty Cheerleading Cunts) and fail.

Tossing his backpack on the lunch table, Edward raced to beat the crowds in the lunch line and was rewarded with two slices of perfectly baked pizza. Walking back to the table, he plopped down next to Jasper, who had the usual brown paper sack in front of him. Edward chuckled at the look of slight fear on his friend's face. Jasper's mother loved to "experiment" with different foods and would send them with her son to taste test. Mrs. Hale was a sweetheart, but she couldn't cook worth a damn.

"C'mon Jazz, it can't be as bad as the tuna and jelly sandwich of last week." He took the bag and emptied its contents onto the table…and then dropped the bag in disgust.

"Ewww, what is that?!" Alice Brandon squealed as she sat down next to Jasper. "That" was a plastic bag that held a sandwich, which looked to be filled with ketchup, raw tuna, and olives. Nearly gagging, Jasper threw it back in the sack and tossed it into the trash can a few feet away.

Edward shuddered. "What's with your mom and tuna recently?"

"She read it helps improve your IQ or something…" Jasper explained as he stole a tater tot from his girlfriend's tray. "What I don't understand is why Rose never gets anything gross?"

"That's because I pack my _own_ lunch, dear brother." Rosalie dropped her purse on the floor and took a seat in between Alice and Emmett, the latter of whom had followed her holding both of their back packs and his tray.

The group continued to chat about Mrs. Hale's recent cooking disasters until someone pulled the last empty chair back on Edward's right and hurriedly plopped in it. Bella Swan quickly pulled her hoodie over her head and ducked as low in the seat as she could without actually sliding under the table.

Not a second had passed before Mike Newton entered the cafeteria and looked around before dejectedly walking out again. After a few moments, Bella peeked out. "Is he gone?"

Alice giggled. "You mean lover boy? Yeah, he left. What did he do this time?"

Bella sat up normally and placed her head in her hands. "I asked him for a pencil so I could write the due date for the theatre project down and I might as well have proposed! He followed me all the way here, begging me to be in his group, as if I have any control over that! And when he asked me to the movies this Friday, I told him I was seeing someone and-"

Edward quickly interrupted. "You're seeing someone?" Blushing at his outburst, he ducked his head. "Thought you didn't date?"

Bella stared at him, shocked. Why did he care? "I'm not really seeing anyone; I was just trying to get Newton off my back." Shaking her head, she turned back to her rant, "and the little creep had the nerve to ask who it was and if they were good enough!"

Edward tried to ignore the feeling of relief and disappointment. Relief that she wasn't taken, disappointment that she hadn't changed her mind on dating. Edward had carried a torch for Bella since his parents had dragged him to a play his freshman year where she was the lead actress. The way she became the character had him spell bound, and he swore off any other girl. He made a point from then on to become as much of a friend as she would allow. His friends constantly made fun of him, but he could tell that they pitied him. Being in love with someone who didn't believe in love sucked pretty badly. He only took the damn theatre class to get closer to her, and managed to get caught molesting a mannequin.

Bella stole an apple slice off Emmett's over loaded tray and popped it in her mouth. Her favorite class of the day was over and she dreaded finding out who she would be stuck with as a group for the rest of the semester. Glancing over at Rose and Alice, the only friends she actually made time for, she wondered if Ms. Nichols would let them be together. They made a good team and were easy to get along with.

"So, Bells, do you work today?" Emmett's loud voice brought her out of her musings.

Sighing, she leaned back in her chair. "Fortunately no. Unfortunately I'm stuck babysitting my twin cousins for the night. Anyone want to help?" She looked up hopefully, knowing the answer would be no.

"I'd love to help." Bella turned to stare at Edward for the second time, shocked.

"Seriously?"

Edward grinned at her. "Yeah, I miss Alyssa. She's adorable." The two of them had used to babysit a lot their freshman year together, and 4 year old Alyssa had taken to him like stink on a skunk. He really did kind of miss her. This was also the perfect opportunity to hang out with Bella.

He was surprised when Bella's eyes lit up and she threw her arms around his neck. A goofy grin broke out as he lightly hugged her back, and their four friends smirked at him from behind her. Everyone knew his feelings but Bella herself, and knew he was only volunteering to spend time with her.

Much to his disappointment, she released him and beamed. "You are my new favorite person. I HATE dealing with the twins by myself. The new baby is a handful as well. Can you be there at 5?"

_Smile. Don't act too excited._ "Sure, no problem." _Nailed it._

The bell rang to release lunch, and the group split up. Edward and Jasper headed to the gym for basketball practice while Bella and Alice reluctantly went to history. All of them envied Emmett and Rose who had early senior release after lunch.

After taking their seats, Alice grinned over at Bella as the brunette rolled her eyes. "No, just because he volunteered to help does NOT mean he's into me. He said he misses Alyssa and he probably wants to get out of chores or something."

"Bella, sometimes you are so blind you amaze me. What 17 year old boy wants to spend his Thursday night babysitting for someone he's NOT interested in? He totally digs you!" Alice exclaimed before being shushed by Mr. Brown.

Bella chuckled at her excited friend. "You're reading more into it than is there. Besides, even if he was into me, I'm too busy for boys."

Alice rolled her eyes. "No, you're scared of getting hurt again. Edward isn't Jacob, Bella." Bella dropped her eyes. Alice was the only one who knew about Jacob, and seemed to think that it was his fault that they had fallen apart.

Shaking her head, Bella turned back to the board. It didn't matter. Edward wasn't into her, so the conversation was pointless.

(LFD)

"You are so into Bella, dude." Jasper tossed him the ball with a chuckle. Running free throw drills was their favorite part of practice, and they took turns making baskets. "I mean, babysitting six year olds? Not my idea of a fun evening."

Edward shrugged. "It's time to step up my game. I can't take this anymore. You'd do the same thing if it was Alice and you."

Jasper paused, and then nodded. "More than likely."

The rest of the day passed rather quickly, and the guys headed to see the list of groups outside room 315 after the last bell rang. Alice, Rose, and Bella were already there, rapidly discussing ideas. Seeing her boyfriend, Alice jumped in Jasper's arms, squealing. "Baby, we're all in the same group! Rose, Bells, Em, Eddie, and me and you!"

Edward immediately bit his lip to keep from grinning like an idiot. It looked like Fate was finally smiling down on him. Looked like Bella and him would be spending quite a lot of time together from now on.


	2. Drooling and Contemplating Murder

The Swan household was finally quiet. At nine o'clock, it was an hour past the kids' bedtime, and they had just fallen asleep. Silently shutting the twins' bedroom door, Bella crept downstairs and entered the tiny, toy-cluttered living room.

"Ugh! Thank God they're finally asleep," Bella moaned as she dropped onto the couch. Edward, who was relaxing on the other end, scooted over and tossed his arm over the back of her seat.

He chuckled and ruffled her hair. "They weren't all bad. Colin only woke up twice, and Alyssa and Conner mostly behaved."

"Yeah! Until you gave the twins waffles that were chock full of sugar. What were you thinking?" Bella thumped her friend on the ear and giggled when he grabbed it in pain. "Anyway…you got any ideas for the theatre project? Because I was thinking we could-"

"BELLA!" He interrupted with a groan. "I do not want to think about school or plays or anything that has to do with work. We have two hours before your aunt and uncle get home. Let's watch a movie!" At Bella's sigh of agreement, Edward got up and maneuvered his way around the Barbie clothes and hot wheels that decorated the brown carpet. He scanned the movie collection, trying to decide on a movie that was romantic, which would set the mood he wanted, but also kind of action-adventure like, so Bella didn't think he was gay.

Grinning, he popped 'Knight and Day' into the DVD player. He grabbed a blanket from off the armchair before plopping back down. Bella greedily stole half the blanket to shield her unprotected legs from the cool air conditioning. Edward was disappointed that he couldn't see her gorgeous legs anymore, loving the way the Nike shorts made her look.

However, he didn't pass up the opportunity to close to her. "Don't hog the blanket, dude. It's freezing!" He gently tried to take it back from her and was rewarded when she scooted closer to him.

"We can share. Don't be a baby," Bella muttered, trying not to blush as he threw his arm around her to make more room. Alice's words from earlier were playing through her mind. '_What 17 year old boy wants to spend his Thursday night babysitting for someone he's not interested in? He totally digs you!'_ Shaking her head, Bella pushed the thought from her mind. Alice was just seeing sparks where there were none. She always was a romantic, and now that she was with Jasper, she was determined to see everyone else in love and happy as well. There was no way Edward felt anything more than polite friendship towards Bella.

Edward was over the moon when Bella cuddled closer to him. He congratulated himself on grabbing the blanket, because that had been a brilliant idea. He also silently thanked his father for giving him such broad shoulders and the excuse to put his arm around Bella. Tonight was shaping up nicely…if only he could start hinting to Bella how he really felt.

The movie began to play and Edward settled into the itchy couch, more comfortable than he'd been in years. He'd seen the movie before, and was more focused on Bella's breathing than anything else. He wasn't surprised when she finally dropped off to sleep, but was ecstatic when her head fell to his shoulder.

Edward sat still for a moment, unable to believe that this was happening. Finally, he reached over and turned the TV off with the remote before flipping the lamp off as well. Scared to even breathe too hard and wake her up, he eased his shoes off and propped his legs upon the little toy table that Alyssa used to draw on. He barely stifled a yawn and froze when Bella murmured.

She snuggled in deeper to him, tucking her cute bare feet underneath her and throwing an arm around his waist. He smiled gently. Making sure she was asleep, he placed a chaste kiss on the top of her head and then leaned his head back against the couch cushion. Maybe he'd just close his eyes for a second…

(LFD)

Maria and Jonathan Swan quietly entered their home, relieved to hear no children giggling or running feet. Maria giggled. "Looks like Edward and Bella got them to sleep alright."

Jon removed his wife coat with a smile. "Poor Edward. I don't know why that boy keeps volunteering to help Bella."

Maria grinned and whispered, "of course you do. That boy is head over heels and would even let Alyssa use him as a princess dress up doll just to spend five minutes with her." Maria disappeared upstairs to check on the kids.

Jon walked through the foyer, and into the dim living room, digging out his wallet to pay the babysitters, but stopped at the sight. "Honey, you have to come see this!" He whisper-yelled up the stairs. His wife came down and grinned over at the two teenagers that were asleep on their couch.

Edward had his mouth wide open and head hanging off the back edge of the sofa while Bella was using his stomach and lap as a pillow. A blanket was tucked around Bella completely while Edward had goose bumps all down his arm and leg. A puddle of drool was making itself known on Edward's shirt, slipping from Bella's mouth as she murmured in her sleep.

Maria crept forward as Jon leaned over to shake them awake. "Wait! I want to get a picture," she grabbed her phone and snapped some shots. This would defiantly be a story to tell at their wedding.

Chuckling at his wife, Jon gently shook his niece's arm. "Bells, time to get up."

The girl let out a moan and stretched her arms out. However, the limited amount of space made her hit Edward in the face. He came to with a small shout, throwing his arm over Bella to shield her. Blinking his eyes several times, he looked up into the face of Jonathan Swan who was cracking up.

Bella yawned and sat up, trying to wake herself up. This wasn't her bedroom. Suddenly, she remembered watching a movie with Edward and closing her eyes for a second to rest them. _I must have fallen asleep_, she thought as her eyes slid closed again. _Well, I hope I didn't –_ Her eyes shot open and she turned to peer at her friend's shirt. Oh God, she prayed a hole would swallow her up. There is no way she actually drooled all over Edward Cullen's shirt. Blushing bright red, Bella stood and ran her fingers through her hair.

Edward's only thoughts were of how cute Bella looked when she first woke up. He yawned and slowly stood, barely listening as Maria thanked him for helping and Jon handed him some money. He felt he should be thanking them for giving him an excuse to hang with Bella. Maybe he should send them a card. _Thanks for having kids so I could cuddle with your hot niece after we put the little ones to bed. _For some reason, he didn't think Hallmark made a card for that.

Gathering his phone and keys, he followed Bella outside and was about to say goodnight when he saw her jump in her ancient truck and spin out of the driveway. Edward stood, shocked that she had left without a goodbye or a thank you. Maybe he did something wrong. Frowning, he got in his Volvo and left for home.

Hopefully a good night's sleep would take away the hurt he had felt watching her speed away from him.

(LFD)

_Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep._

Bella hated alarm clocks. She was not ready to go humiliate herself anymore but the damn thing wouldn't let her sleep. Violently ripping out the plug, she smiled evilly and turned over to go back to sleep. Missing one day of school wouldn't kill her…

Her dog, Lily, had other ideas. The golden puppy immediately began climbing all over her master, licking and nipping at the hand that tried to push her away. After a few minutes, Bella had to give up. Groaning, she sat up and rubbed her face. It looked like she would be going to school regardless of embarrassment.

An hour later, she was showered and dressed, had eaten breakfast and fed the dog. Climbing into her truck, she rested her forehead against the steering wheel. Her head was pounding and her mouth was dry. Maybe she was getting sick.

The drive to school was normal and she pulled into a pretty close spot next to Rosalie's cherry red convertible. Her group of friends, including _him_, was relaxing on the picnic table in front of the school. Alice called her over and she reluctantly went to face the music.

Edward hid a smile at Bella's look of defeat. She obviously thought he had told their friends how she had drooled on his shirt last night and they were going to make fun of her. He hadn't told a soul, even though he thought the fact that she drooled when she slept was about the cutest thing he'd ever seen. He had honestly considered never washing the shirt again, but then figured if he ever did get a shot with her, that would be kind of awkward to explain. He had reluctantly tossed it in the washing machine.

"Morning, Bells," Emmett boomed. "We were talking about that theatre play thing and what we planned to do. You got any ideas, Miss Spotlight?"

Bella was stunned for a second. They weren't going to rake her over the coals for her embarrassing display last night? Emmett would never pass up an opportunity to tease, unless…Looking over at Edward, she saw him smirk and shake his head slightly. He hadn't told them. She smiled back. That was…unexpected, but nice. She began to wonder if what Alice said was true…

Going back to a topic she was more comfortable thinking about, Bella said, "It has to be a romance play. Those always get good grades from Ms. Nichols. She tears up at a happy ending, so there's that too. I was thinking we could do a modern day play. 21st century, cell phones, sluts, the whole nine yards."

Rose started to grin. "Yeah, we could have the main guy be caught texting another girl, but he was actually set up. So he tries to explain what really happened but she doesn't believe him."

Alice was shaking her head. "That's so cliché. How about a story about a jock that is hopelessly in love with a girl who has been burned before and doesn't believe in love anymore? And the whole idea of the play is trying to get her to see that she has to trust her heart or she'll never find true love!"

The table went silent, and Edward never wanted to commit murder more than he did right at that moment. Alice was practically spelling out his feelings to Bella and they both knew Bella was a runner. If she thought someone was a threat to her celibacy, she dropped them cold turkey.

Looking over at her, he saw Bella glaring daggers at her little pixie friend as well. She opened her mouth but was interrupted by Rosalie, who exclaimed, "It's perfect!" Jasper and Emmett quickly nodded in agreement. But Rose wasn't finished. "On one condition. Bella and Edward HAVE to be the main couple."

It was official. Their friends must hate them. Edward was going to have to "pretend" to be in love with Bella while actually trying to hide his love from her! This was going to be an interesting semester…


End file.
